[s-cars] Q7 ramblings

Fri Mar 2 01:44:09 EST 2007

In the 5 years I have owned my S4 I have replaced exactly one switch
(sunroof).  I have another 10 years of Audi ownership in other '92 or older
cars and I have not had to replace on single switch in those.  So, one
switch in 15 years...I think I can handle that rampant failure rate.

*steps up on soapbox*

And if all of them happened to fail I can replace all those switches for
less than the cost of one of those fancy dancy control centers...hell my '91
200 TQA I only paid $2400 for the whole stinkin car!  Also, the window
switches on my '72 Firebird never break...oh that's right there are no
switches...I actually have to roll down the windows...horror of horrors :)
It's repair costs that are going up that are killing the resale value of
these cars.  Nobody wants to touch one without a warranty.  We used to have
cars that had major problems after 100k, then we went to cars that could
last hundreds of k with reasonable repair costs (late 80's early 90's), now
we have cars that nobody is going to want after 100k because of the
potential repair costs involved.  Innovations are great, I'm all for those
where they are needed, but here we are again with "innovations to cars" that
make for worse repair bills and utility.  Fuel injection is an example of
one that although driving repair bills up gave significant improvements in
measureable performance metrics.  An example of bad use of technology is the
downshift time of the automatic in my wife's 2001 A6 2.7T.  I can time it
with a sundial.  Not nearly as fast as the response time in a car with a
vacuum modulator for downshifting.  Of course it can be made faster, but my
point is that the vacuum modulator worked great for decades and now I am at
the mercy of some computer programming hack's algorithm.

Of course I am out of touch....I spend less than 30 minutes a month on a
cell phone, don't have one with me all the time, don't even own a PDA....I
don't know how I manage without all that technology.

--Calvin

-----Original Message-----
From: s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com
[mailto:s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com]On Behalf Of Ez Veedub
Sent: Thursday, March 01, 2007 10:24 PM
To: larrycleung at gmail.com
Cc: quattro at audifans.com; s-car-list at www.audifans.com
Subject: Re: [s-cars] Q7 ramblings

Alright, has anybody here used the HVAC on a Q7?? Want it colder, turn the
knob to the left, want it hotter turn it to the right. How much harder can
that be? I never change the vent outputs, but that not much harder either.

As for all the knob and switch guys, do you also know that when a car gets
older, its that many more knob and switches that go BAD. Trust me, I have
changed enough bad switches and knobs and bad HAVC panels and blown bulbs to
know in my older Audis.

>From: "LL - NY" <larrycleung at gmail.com>
>To: "Ez Veedub" <ezveedub at hotmail.com>
>CC: lee at wheelman.com, s-car-list at www.audifans.com, quattro at audifans.com
>Subject: Re: [s-cars] Q7 ramblings
>Date: Thu, 1 Mar 2007 16:05:16 -0500
>
>IMHO,
>
>If you have to qualify one bad thing by saying it's not as bad as another,
>it's still bad.
>
>Give me knobs. I even thing the buttons with display on the good "old
>fashioned" CCH for
>the UrS/type 44 is a bit stupid. You need to actually look at the display
>IF
>you want a
>specific temp (I guess it's somewhat intuitive if you go with "I'm cold,
>press the top of
>the temp buttons, I'm hot, press the bottom"). FWIW, although setting temps
>isn't as
>precise, the knob with pointer Climate Control in the Saabaru requires much
>less driver
>attention.
>
>Let these computer interface devices go the way of the digital
>speedometer....
>
>My $0.02
>
>LL - NY
>
>On 2/28/07, Ez Veedub <ezveedub at hotmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>10 minutes to turn down HVAC. Sounds a bit exaggerated. MMI takes some
>>getting used to, but I believe its a lot better than iDrive. Once you get
>>to
>>know the panel, and you go back a regular car, you find its a lot harder
>>in
>>a regular car. Its some what like a keyboard. Once you know where all the
>>buttons and functions, you usually don't have to look anymore or reach all
>>over the dash try to adjust different controls.
>>Ezveedub
>>
>> >From: Lee Levitt <lee at wheelman.com>
>> >Reply-To: lee at wheelman.com
>> >To: s-car-list at www.audifans.com, quattro at audifans.com
>> >Subject: [s-cars] Q7 ramblings
>> >Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2007 18:15:36 -0800 (PST)
>> >
>> >Picked up a Q7 on Monday. Nice car, er truck. Took me 10 minutes
>> >to figure out how to switch the radio on and another 10 to turn
>> >down the HVAC. The MMI is not particularly intuitive...
>> >
>> >Anyway, it drives very nicely. Quite solid, nice motor, lotsa
>> >power. Suspension is just stiff enough, the 2 part moonroof is
>> >huge.
>> >
>> >Very comfortable overall.
>> >
>> >Funny thing -- as I'm picking it up, who walks up but Peter
>> >Schultz. We're both out in SFO for work and getting cars from the
>> >same place.
>> >
>> >Too bad I have to turn it in tomorrow before I fly home...
>> >
>> >It's just big enough that I will seriously look at the Q5 before I
>> >replace the wife's car. Hope they both come with TDI motors. Weird
>> >that the A5 won't. Audi could make a real statement with a nice
>> >TDI motor in that car...
>> >
>> >Lee
>> >2007 Audi Q7 (Hertz version)
>> >'99 A6 quattro avant
>> >'97 A6 quattro avant
>> >'96 A6 quattro avant
>>
>>
>> >_______________________________________________
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>>
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>>
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VERAGE
>>
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